Hi all- thank you for all the hard work that you have all put into your LiveJournals during weeks 1-6. I am plowing my way through these as we speak and there are some extraordinary creative talents emerging- both in words and images. I encourage you all to continue making contact with the LiveJournal Academic Assistants who are posted at the top of the URL list and who are keen to help you improve in the second half of semester. This week I have starting with us in LiveJournal a group of around 25 students doing a certificate course in Literature through Mission Australia. These are a group keen to find a way of reconnecting with a path that will help them re-establish their lives. When I post their URLs up please welcome then in as part of our growing community.Suggestions for this week's LJs - if you have'nt yet completed your new entries:For first years- which poems of Judith Wrights do you feel a real connection with? Is she speaking for you in any of her poems? Can you try writing a poem of your own stimulated by her way of looking at the world. There is no better way than this to learn how to write poetry.For second years: this incredible moment of "spiritual" breakthrough that the characters in Katherine Mansfield's stories find themselves approaching.... is there a moment in your own lives that approximates these moments? We all are trapped in some way or other, we are all looking for moments of release.... can you let Mansfield's imagination open your own imagination to critical moments in your own lives.... have a try... nothing to lose!For third years: We had such a powerful discussion this week in tutorials and lectures about life on the margins of society... how orphans and victims of adult abuse stand there as reminders of how our society is care-less in its responsibility to others. These are the sorts of issues that Blake stirs us into thinking.... Can you think of any instances of where society lacks real respect for people on the margins? Can you write a short piece (poem or prose) describing and reflecting on these circumstances.... let us see what your creativity can bring to this.....MGEnjoy!